Posts Tagged ‘Sooners’

Congratulations to the Villanova Wildcats who were crowned the college basketball champs following their closing seconds victory over the Tar Heels of North Carolina last night! What a great tournament this year with some memorable games.

There was a lot of great college football yesterday. And, for the third straight week, the #1 ranked college football team has been upset. Two weeks ago, Alabama lost to South Carolina; last week, Ohio State lost to Wisconsin; this week, Oklahoma lost to Missouri; next week . . . who knows?

The Michigan State Spartans continued their winning ways and remained undefeated in a thrilling (okay, it was really nerve-wracking) come-from-behind victory over Northwestern on the road. And, thanks to the help of Wisconsin and Ohio State (who defeated Iowa and Purdue respectively), Michigan State sits alone atop the Big Ten (for now) with a major log-jam for second place. Next up: the Spartans travel to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes — a huge road game for the Spartans! And, having just lost to the Badgers at home, you know the Hawkeyes will be ready to take on the Spartans and play the spoiler in their bid to topple a top-ten team.

Go Green!

The list of undefeated teams has now shrunk to just seven . . . in addition to Michigan State, the list includes: Oregon, Boise State, Auburn, TCU, Utah, and Missouri.

The American Library Association (ALA) has produced a series of library fact sheets on a variety of topics. And, how can you resist a ranking of the nation’s largest libraries (categoriezed by the number of volumes held)? It was no surprise that the Library of Congress was #1. Nor was it surprising that Harvard, Yale, and Columbia were all within the top ten. But a couple of public libraries were able to crack into the top ten as well (Boston Public [#3], and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County [#9]).

So where does your library stand? Both of my alma maters were in the top 40 (Michigan State University [at #37, Go Green!] and the University of Oklahoma [at #35]). And, an even more impressive statistic (in my humble opinion) is that all but one of the Big Ten schools fall within the top 40!

5 University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
10 University of Michigan
11 Indiana University
16 University of Wisconsin – Madison
21 University of Minnesota
24 Ohio State University
34 Pennsylvania State University
37 Michigan State University
38 University of Iowa
40 Northwestern University

The only Big Ten school to not make the top 100 . . . Purdue University!

The Michigan State Spartans are struggling a bit on the road — they have lost two straight (to Wisconsin on Tuesday and to Illinois yesterday — too many turnovers and allowing too many open shots). And, having Kalin Lucas on the bench (sprained ankle) certainly did not help the cause. Up next, Purdue at home on Tuesday. Hopefully we can put an end to this losing skid on Tuesday! Our lead over the Big Ten Conference is shrinking . . . down to only one game (four teams are vying for second place: Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, and Ohio State). Of these teams vying for second place, Michigan State still has to play Purdue (twice) and Ohio State (once, at home). Then after surviving the Big Ten regular season, who knows who we will have to face again in the Big Ten Tournament . . . hang on, we could be in for a wild finish!

College football, that is. And, there has already been some very interesting developments! Ohio State escapes a Navy scare, the University of Oklahoma goes down to defeat (after losing QB Sam Bradford just before the end of the first half), and, the Michigan State University Spartans begin their season with a 44-3 win over Montana State University! Go Green.

All in all, a great day for the Big Ten Conference (10-1) — the only loss, Illinois fell victim to Missouri. The Michigan Wolverines even managed to win against Western Michigan (and looked pretty good in doing so . . . next up for the Wolverines: Notre Dame . . . it should be interesting).

The only question that really remains . . . are you ready for some football?

Go Green! All of the top seeds (#1s and #2s) won today and the Elite Eight are now set. Added to the group are: Louisville, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Michigan State. The irony: I was unable to actually watch the game. It sounded like a great game (but I would have been pulling my hair out — the Spartans trailed for most of the game).

Final count: all four number one seeds, two number two seeds, and two number three seeds. No Cinderellas remain. Four teams from the Big East, two from the Big Twelve, and one each from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten.

What a great way to start the weekend. By the end of this weekend, we will have the Final Four! Next up for Michigan State: the Louisville Cardinals.

Go Green! And, congratulations on your first-round victory against Robert Morris. Of the seven Big Ten teams to start the tournament, only 4 have advanced to the next round (Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin, and Michigan State). My only disappointment . . . not being able to actually watch the game (the MSU game was not one of the games being broadcast in our area) — of course, the Spartans started pulling away just before the end of the first half and never looked back in the second half. Poor Ohio State loses in double-overtime.

Not only did I celebrate a Spartan win on Tuesday evening, but then Purdue loses a close one to Northwestern (at home) on Wednesday, and Illinois also loses on a last-second shot by Penn State on Thursday.

Other notable upsets this week include: Kansas over Missouri, Vanderbilt over LSU, Texas Tech over Kansas, Missouri over Oklahoma, and Stanford over Arizona State. (the Big Twelve seems to be as topsy-turvy as the Big Ten . . .)

This truly is March Madness. Stay tuned, it is only going to get better as we travel down the “Road to the Final Four!”